


Lonely Hearts

by klutzykangaroo



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Because I DO WHAT I WANT, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Rating May Change, Sharing a Bed, for the sake of this fic kaykay and roy are dating, quarantine fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24289465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzykangaroo/pseuds/klutzykangaroo
Summary: The news about California’s stay at home order came early in the morning, just as Calum was finishing his second cup of tea.__Or, Calum's shower is broken so he decides to spend quarantine with Ashton.
Relationships: Calum Hood/Ashton Irwin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This came to me in a dream last night after I spent all of yesterday watching and rewatching Spill the Quarantea. This is going to be multi-chapter, but I'm not exactly sure how long yet. I'll try to update it every 2-3 days. Anyways enjoy :)

The news about California’s stay at home order came in the morning, just as Calum had finished preparing his second cup of tea.

He had just sat at his kitchen table, about to start his daily morning routine of checking twitter and instagram when the CNN notification popped up on his lockscreen.

_ Governor Newsome Issues Stay-at-Home order for all California residents _

Calum blinked, shook his head and reread the message.  _ What does that even mean?  _ He thought as he clicked the message.

_ The nation's most populous state is ordering its nearly 40 million residents to stay home to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Nineteen people have died and more than 900 tested positive for coronavirus in California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's order marks the first statewide mandatory restrictions- _

Calum stopped reading the press release, immediately opening the messages app and navigating to the band’s group chat.

Cal: did you guys get that too?

Mikey: get what? was there another earthquake or something

Cal: check the news mate

A couple minutes pass, in which Calum goes back to his own news app to continue reading the rest of the press release. Finally, he gets a text back.

Mikey: oh shit

Cal: yeah, oh shit is right

Luke: what does that even mean?

Cal: apparently we can only leave the house for groceries, doctor’s appointments and exercise. this is bad boys

Mikey: how are we supposed to release an album if we can’t even leave the house?

And fuck, Calum had almost forgotten. They were supposed to be releasing CALM in a little over a week. Hell, they were supposed to film a music video for Wildflower the day after tomorrow. Were they just supposed to cancel all of that? It’s not like they could postpone the album release; they had been sitting on it for almost a year and really wanted to get it out into the world. But without the promo that they usually did with their music releases, he had no idea how it was going to work.

Ash: Give me a second boys, I’m calling management.

_ Yeah _ , Calum admits to himself,  _ probably a good idea _ . He knows they had been discussing ways to work around the virus if something like this happened for a few weeks now. When they had first mentioned it to the band, he had thought the measures they were taking were unnecessary. Now, just days later, he was being proven wrong.

He stood up, leaving his phone and tea behind to find Roy, still in his room.

“Hey, did you see the news?” he asked as the other man looked up from where he was staring at his phone.

Roy nodded, his eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open as he held up his phone to show Calum the same CNN press release pulled up. “Yeah. Shit, this sucks. And they’re saying three weeks at least.”

“God, I hope it’s not longer than that. I can only stay cooped up in here for so long, especially with you for company” he smirked cheekily, punching Roy lightly on the shoulder.

His roommate looked up at him, his eyes somehow getting even wider. “Shit. What are we supposed to do about showers and stuff? Our plumbing is absolutely fucked.”

_ Shit, _ Calum thought. He’d completely forgotten in the craze that was this morning that none of the showers in his house were working. For the past week he had just been showering at the gym, but that obviously wasn’t going to be an option now. “There’s no way we can stay here until the plumbers come and fix it. When I called yesterday they said they were booked until late next week. But it’s not like we can stay in a hotel or something. Fuck, what do we do?”

Roy sat still for a moment, obviously going over his own options. After a few seconds he looked back up at his roommate. “Maybe I’ll go stay with Kaykay until this is over. I might as well if we’re going to be stuck at home for almost a month at least. I don’t want her being in her apartment all by herself. I don’t know what you want to do, but like you said, you can’t stay here. Maybe go stay with someone in the band?”

Calum sighed. “Yeah, that’s probably my best option at the moment. I’ll text the group chat and see who has room for me. You should go pack, I guess. The lockdown goes into effect tonight, so you’ll have to go to Kay’s today” he said as he turned around and headed back to the kitchen.

His phone had a new notification from Ashton waiting for him.

Ash: Okay, management is going to work on revising our schedule for the next week. From what they told me, they think most of our interviews on TV and radio are still going to happen, but they’ll be over the phone or this conference app called Zoom.

Luke: did they say anything about the album release?

Ash: They said we can push it back if we want, but they wouldn’t recommend it since it will probably look pretty bad.

Cal: i don’t think we should push it back. we’ve been sitting on this for a long time, and i want to get it out there. plus, it’s not like people will have anything better to do except listen to music. maybe we can cheer a few people up.

_ Mikey liked a message _

Mikey: i agree

Luke: same here

Ash: Cool, I’ll text them and tell them the CALM release is still on.

Calum felt something settle in his stomach, a little bit of his anxiety lifting as he realized something was still going right. Now that the biggest issue was settled, he typed out his predicament and sent it in the message.

Cal: my showers are still fucked at my house. roy is going to kaykay’s apartment until this is all over, but duke and i can’t exactly stay here for the next three weeks. i’d rather not wallow in my own filth until the plumber comes next week.

Cal: does anyone mind if i stay at their house for the time being?

Mikey: not me :( sorry man. i’ve already got andy and a bunch of crystal’s friends staying at my house, so there’s no bedrooms left.

Luke: you could stay with me if you want to, but you’d probably get sick of sierra and i pretty quickly

Cal: lol u right

Luke: heyyy :(

Luke: maybe ashton?

Cal waited for the fourth band member’s response, but it didn’t come within a few minutes like he was hoping. Was Ashton just going to ignore his message? A light panic started to build within him. He didn’t know what he’d do if he had to stay here alone. And did this mean Ash didn’t want to spend time with him? He understood completely, he wouldn’t want to spend three weeks with himself either. His anxiety mounted until he finally received a new notification from the chat.

Ash: Sorry, I was texting management.

Ash: Of course you can stay at my place! It’s just me and the lemon tree here. I could honestly use the company

Calum released the breath he had been holding. Okay, good. Ashton didn’t hate him, and he had a place to stay.

Cal: you sure you don’t mind? i don’t want to inconvenience you since we don’t know how long this is going to last.

Ash: of course bud. Just come over later today. I’ll make the guest bed up after I finish breakfast and then I’ll be ready for you :)

Calum smiled at the emoji meant for him before typing out a final response, happy to have a place to stay for the time being.

Cal: great, i’ll see you tonight

As he closed out of his messages app Roy stepped into the kitchen, a suitcase and large duffel being carried in each hand. Calum smirked at his roommate, amused by how he was struggling to carry both luggage items. “Need a hand bringing those to the car, mate?”

“Nah, I got it” the other man said as he slowly lowered the suitcase to the ground, only to grab a banana from the fruit bowl and shove it in his mouth, holding it between his teeth. He did, however, gesture to the garage door as he again picked up the suitcase, silently asking Calum to open up the door for him. He obliged, watching Roy shuffle to his car and throw both bags into the trunk. Now able to take the banana out of his mouth, he turned back to his roommate. “So what’s the verdict for you?”

“Staying with Ashton. I’m going to pack and head over there this afternoon. You all good?”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll just head over there now. See you later bro!” Roy called, waving with one hand as he opened his car door. “Call me every day so I know you’re still alive over there, okay?”

“You got it man. Take care of yourself,” he said as he raised his hand to Roy, who had now gotten into his car and was shutting the door. With one more wave farewell, his roommate pulled out of the garage and left for his girlfriend’s.

Now with the house to himself Calum sighed, turning to walk to his own bedroom. It was time to start packing.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all. So pretty much right after I posted the first chapter my computer screen broke, so it's been getting repaired the past week. I apologize if there's any spelling errors or typos in this chapter bc I wrote most of it on my phone. Regardless, hope you enjoy :)
> 
> edit: i probably won’t be posting a new chapter for a little while. it doesn’t feel right to be working on this when we should all be fighting for the rights of black people. it’s better if we focus on things going on in the world around us. #blacklivesmatter

In four hours Calum had finished loading up his car with everything he thought he and Duke would need for the next three weeks. As he shut the trunk, he turned around to the tiny dog wagging his tail behind him, the leash already attached.

“Alright buddy, you ready? We’re going to Uncle Ashton’s house for a while” he said as he kneeled to pick up the dog. He moved over to the passenger side door, opening it and gently letting Duke down on the seat. He then moved to the drivers side and got in, quickly double checking that he had everything he had packed before putting the car in reverse and pulling onto the street.

Ten minutes later he was punching in the security code to his best friend’s gate and pulling into the driveway. As he parked next to Ashton’s car, he thought about how nice it was that he lived so close to all his bandmates. Especially on a day like today, when traffic in Los Angeles was sure to be insane with everyone trying to stock up with last-minute items for quarantine.

Calum grabbed Duke from the passenger side and opened his door. He set the dog on the ground before walking up the steps to the front door.

Taking the key he knew the drummer kept under the potted fern next to him, Calum unlocked the door and stepped into the foyer. He let Duke off his leash, after which the dog took off toward the kitchen. He followed to find his bandmate sitting at his island with his phone pressed to his ear, bent down to scratch behind the dog’s ears. Ashton looked up at the sound of Calum’s footsteps and waved, then pointed to his phone and mouthed “management”. 

Cal nodded, assuming their team wanted to discuss some more aspects about how they were going to release the album. In the meantime, he turned down the hallway toward the guest bedroom designated for the boys when they stayed at Ash’s after a party. 

He opened the door to his temporary bedroom to see that the man had already made up the bed and vacuumed the large rug in the middle of the room. He set his suitcase full of clothes by the dresser, adamant on waiting as long as possible before actually unpacking, before returning to his car to grab Duke’s food and toys. Once those were also in the room, he took a minute to lie back on the bed and rest his eyes. So much had changed since he had woken up this morning. Just a few hours ago, he thought he was going to spend the next three weeks traveling the world promoting his album, and now he was trapped in a house for the foreseeable future with absolutely nothing to do. Hell, for all he knew he could be here for months. From what he’d read about China, the entire country had been on lockdown for three months, and they still had no idea when their country would be open. He hoped it wouldn’t get that bad here, but Calum was not optimistic.

At least he was with Ash, one of his three best friends in the world. The two had gotten closer in the past few years. With Ashton single after his breakup with Bryana and his brief relationship with Kay Kay, partnered with Calum’s perpetual bachelor status, the boys started to seek each other out more during parties and other social gatherings. Where Michael had Crystal and Luke had Sierra, Calum and Ashton had each other to interact with. In fact, they had become so inseparable over the past few years that their friends now referred to them as a couple, referring to them as the “Cashton” moniker that their fans had come up with in the early band years. 

Maybe he should have been pissed that they always brought up the closeness of the two bandmates, but Calum didn’t really mind. Ashton really was his best friend, and he had no problem with how others perceived their relationship. He had to admit that if he had to be stuck with anyone over the next few weeks, he was glad that person was Ashton. 

He heard a knock on the open door and opened his eyes to see his best friend standing in the doorway. Calum sat up on his elbows and gave a small smile to his best friend. “How was the call?”

“Fine, nothing too surprising. They want us to come up with an idea for some homemade promo since a lot of the late night shows we booked are cancelling their episodes. Something we can put on Instagram and the youtube channel” Ash explained, running a hand through his freshly re-dyed black hair.

“Gotcha. Any ideas? We can’t exactly meet up with Luke and Mike and do anything at the moment.”

“I was thinking a Zoom call where we go through the whole album and talk about every song, but we can discuss it with them later.”

Calum let out a little chuckle at the idea of having to sit down for an hour at a computer and talk about just the music. “Yeah, like that won’t go off the rails immediately,” he said with an amused smile.

Ashton gave a little nod and a short laugh himself, acknowledging that it was probably a bad idea. “You’re right, but the fans would love it. They also set up a Twitch stream with Amazon Music for release day so we can answer questions and stuff, but I’m gonna let Mikey handle that one.”

“Fair enough,” Calum said, then looked around the room. “Hey, thanks for letting me stay here by the way. I’m glad if there’s one person I have to be stuck with for the next few weeks, it’ll be you.”

Ashton gave him a small smile. “No need to thank me. You know I love having you around. It’ll be good for both of us, I think. Having somebody to spend time with. I know you usually have Roy and stuff, but it’s just me here most of the time.” Ashton sighed, obviously imagining what it would be like to be here alone. “Plus, I couldn’t just allow you to not shower for a week. That’d be disgusting.”

“Meh, you could have just left a bucket and a rag in the driveway and I would have made do. But I’m definitely not complaining,” Cal said as he lifted himself off the bed. He walked up to Ashton, finally pulling him into a hug he’d been craving since the last time he’d seen the man.

The embrace lasted just a few seconds, but it alleviated a few of the fears and worries Calum still had about the weeks to come. The two pulled apart, and Ashton moved back into the hallway. “I was about to start lunch when management called. You hungry?”

“Yeah, mate,” Calum said. “Lead the way.”

The two walked back into the kitchen, where Calum quickly took a seat on a barstool as Ashton took some sandwich ingredients out of the fridge. “I bought some hummus last time I was at Ralphs for whenever you come over; I know you like veggie sandwiches and I didn’t want you just eating lettuce and tomato on bread.”

Calum’s stomach filled with warmth for the man. Ashton must have noticed that he always ordered a veggie sandwich when they went to restaurants. He had never explicitly told him what he liked to eat for lunch; this was just a byproduct of how much time they’d been spending together lately, and how much Ash paid attention. “Thanks Ash.” 

The older man took out a cutting board and knife to start chopping vegetables for the sandwiches. “So you brought everything you’ll need for the next few weeks? Clothes? Dog food? Bass?”

Calum nodded to all three. Yep. Probably forgot something, but nothing too big. Is there anything you need to get today before all the stores run out of stuff?”

“Nah man, I stocked up on fish fingers, so I’ll be good for at least two weeks.”

The younger man scrunched up his face. “Whatever, man. It’s your body I guess. I guess I can’t judge, you’re definitely the fittest of all of us.”

“Oh am I? Glad to know my best friend thinks I’m fit,” Ashton said, finishing it off with a toothy grin and a wink. “Don’t worry, though. The vegetarian diet isn’t doing you too bad either. I’ve seen fans write poems about your biceps.”

Calum looked down at the table, feeling his cheeks flush as a small smile appeared on his face. “Thanks, I guess.” He heard something slide across the table, and suddenly there was a veggie sandwich in front of him.

“Eat up, big boy. I want to take a walk with Duke and get some exercise in for today.” The older man picked up his sandwich, stuffing almost half of it into his mouth in one bite. “You in?” he said through a mouth of food.

“Yeah, sounds good.” The two ate their lunches in a comfortable silence. As Calum finished his own food, he looked over to his best friend, still focused on eating. The man really was fit, he had to admit. Hell, Calum even had a crush on the man when they had first met. He had immediately been enchanted by the twinkle that always seemed to be in Ashton’s eye, and the goofy smile that never seemed to leave his face back then. He had gotten over it once the band started to gain success, too busy with touring and writing and recording to worry about his schoolboy crush. But every now and again he would look at Ashton and remember why he had been half in love with the boy all those years ago.

“You good mate?” Calum shook his head, snapping out of the little trance he had been under. Ashton was looking at him with a confused but fond expression. “You were staring at me for like three minutes.”

“No, yeah I’m fine. Just thinking about the album release,” Calum said, rubbing his eyes. He hadn’t known he’d been staring at his best friend for so long. “So, walk with Duke?”

Ashton’s face immediately brightened, and he gave Calum one of those huge grins that had been his signature a few years ago. “Yeah I’ll go get my shoes on and meet you by the door.”

Calum nodded, moving back to his own room to grab Duke’s leash. As he stood in the room that would be his for the next few weeks, he told himself he’d have to keep himself in check during the next few weeks. He wouldn’t want that teenage crush to resurface now, in a place he wouldn’t be able to escape it. 

  
  



End file.
